Reports of casualties in attack on Syrian air base; U.S. denies strike

Syrian state TV said there were casualties in what it said was a suspected US missile attack in central Syria however the United States denied it had launched any air strike. A Syrian military source was quoted as saying air defences shot down eight missiles fired at the base, also known as the Tiyas Airbase, where defence analysts say there are large deployments of Russian forces, and where jets fly regular sorties to strike rebel-held areas. "An aggression was perpetrated on T-4 air base in several strikes that is most likely to be an American attack," state television said in a news flash. The US Pentagon said it was not conducting air strikes in Syria "at this time," formally denying the Syrian state television report. Israel has struck Syrian army locations many times in the course of the conflict, hitting convoys and bases of Iranian-backed militias that fight alongside Syrian President Bashar al Assad's forces. Israel had previously said Syria had allowed Iran to set up a complex at the base to supply its ally, the Lebanese militant Shi'ite group Hezbollah, with weapons. Israel has long said Iran was expanding its influence in a belt of territory that stretches from the Iraqi border to the Lebanese border, where Israel says Iran supplies Hezbollah with arms. US President Donald Trump said earlier on Sunday there would be a big price to pay after medical aid groups reported dozens of civilians, including many children and women, were killed by poison gas in a besieged rebel-held town. The United States launched a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base a year ago. The US missile strike was against a Syrian air base which Washington said was used to launch the strike. -PTC News